Winnipeg secures the rights to a pivotal young playmaker and a physical blueliner, while allowing a former second-round selection to hit free agency following a disappointing tenure.
On Monday, the Winnipeg Jets extended qualifying offers to forward Cole Perfetti and defenseman Tyrel Bauer while declining to qualify forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The most significant decision of the three surrounds Perfetti, whose next contract will be one of the more closely watched negotiations in Winnipeg this summer. The 24-year-old winger is coming off a lackluster season, finishing with 12 goals and 19 assists for 32 points in 68 games, a step back from the year prior when he appeared in all 82 regular-season games and recorded 18 goals and 32 assists for 50 points.
The qualifying offer keeps Perfetti under Jets control as a restricted free agent and signals that Winnipeg still believes in the offensive upside that made him a top ten pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. His current cap hit sits at $3.25 million and any new deal will likely push that number slightly higher with the rising NHL salary cap.
Perfetti has already etched his name into Jets history, most memorably for his game-tying goal with 2.2 seconds left in regulation of Game 7 against the St. Louis Blues in the 2025 playoffs, the latest game-tying or winning goal in regulation in NHL playoff history.
Bauer also received a qualifying offer, retaining the Jets' rights to the physical blueliner. The Cochrane, Alberta product had a goal and four assists for five points while racking up 110 penalty minutes in 52 games this past season with the Manitoba Moose in the AHL.
Bauer is not a player who will ever be counted on for offense but brings the kind of physicality and toughness that organizations value in their depth pool, and the Jets have seen enough to bring him back for another season.
As for Anderson-Dolan, the decision not to qualify him means he will hit the open market as a free agent. The Calgary native was selected 41st overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2017 NHL Draft but never developed into the player that pedigree suggested.
He spent this past season in the AHL with the Manitoba Moose, recording 36 points in 72 games, and will now look to carve out a role elsewhere as he enters the next chapter of his career.
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